


The "Girl" Series (Persistence, Her Own Girl, The Road to Corinth)

by Xie



Series: Girl [1]
Category: Xena: Warrior Princess
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-30
Updated: 2010-05-30
Packaged: 2017-10-09 19:15:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/90635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xie/pseuds/Xie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Classic Xena fan fiction, with totally whack mythology, and lesbian sex, and a mysterious creature, and a war, and girls kicking ass.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Persistence

**Author's Note:**

  * For [roc_abs](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=roc_abs).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story begins when Xena and Gabrielle encounter a mysterious creature on the road...

  
**  
  
Persistence**  
By Xie

"_The softest things in the world overcome the hardest things in the world_." - Lao Tzu

Gabrielle stopped brushing her hair, and frowned at the bushes near the edge of the clearing. “Xena?”

“Hmmm?” Xena was staring across the flat of her sword, one eye closed, looking for debris or imperfections. Nothing. She smiled, and slid it behind her back into its scabbard. “What, Gabrielle?”

“Xena, is there someone in those bushes?”

“No. It’s an animal.”

Xena sounded completely sure, and Gabrielle put it out of her mind and finished fastening her hair back. She slung her bag over Argo’s saddle, and then tied her staff on.

Xena pulled Gabrielle up behind on her on Argo. As they rode away from camp, Gabrielle glanced behind her, one hand resting on Xena’s shoulder. A brownish shape emerged from the bushes behind them, but just then Argo picked up her pace, and Gabrielle turned to the front again.

By the time she looked back, the animal was gone.

That night they made camp near a small stream. Gabrielle was cleaning their pan, and Xena was stretched out on their blanket, her head on her saddlebag, watching the fire with half-closed eyes.

Gabrielle put the pan away and stretched, then kicked off her shoes and lay down next to Xena. Xena put her arm around Gabrielle, and Gabrielle put her head on Xena’s shoulder.

“Xena?” Their fingers were playing together. “Do you think we’ll get to Nemea tomorrow?”

Xena shrugged. “Probably the next day. There’s no hurry. The people of Nemea and Phlious have been feuding for decades. They’ll keep doing it until we get there. We can take our time.”

Gabrielle smiled and nestled closer to Xena. “Good.”

  
_________________________________

When she woke up in the morning, Gabrielle couldn’t move her feet. She felt a moment of panic, then opened her eyes and looked down to see a large, reddish-brown animal curled up on them, sleeping.

At first she thought it was some kind of big cat, a strangely-coated tiger or lion, but when the sleek creature lifted her head, she saw it was a dog, with liquid brown eyes edged in black.

Gabrielle couldn’t break her eyes away from the dog’s gaze, even though she knew better than to stare at a strange predator. “Xe… Xe… Xena?”

Xena strode up to the bedroll, and stood looking down at Gabrielle and the dog. “I see you’ve met our new friend.”

Gabrielle cleared her throat. “New friend?”

“She appears to have adopted us. Or rather, you. She was there when I woke up. She seemed friendly so I figured you wouldn’t mind.”

“No. No, of course not.” Gabrielle blinked. “Where did she come from?”

Xena shrugged. “No idea. Now, let’s go. We have a long way to travel before night.”

The two women packed up their camp, and ate some dried fruit while they walked down the road, Argo ahead of them with their belongings slung over her saddle.

Gabrielle cast her eyes down the road behind them. “Xena, that dog is following us.”

Xena swallowed a mouthful of apricot. “I know.”

Gabrielle stopped and turned around. “Go home. Shoo. Your owners must be missing you.”

Xena looked down at Gabrielle. “Why do you think she has owners?”

“She’s so well-cared for. She’s not thin, or flea-bitten.”

Xena shook her head. “I don’t think so. She’s been following us for at least three days now. If she had a place to go, she’d have turned back long ago. And she’s not wearing a collar.”

Gabrielle frowned, but turned back to the road ahead.

At around noon, they stopped again, this time in a small village, almost too small to deserve the name.

“This place has decent food and wine, believe it or not.” Xena threw Argo’s reins loosely over a fence outside the small building. If you didn’t look closely, you might actually think she was tied up. “Stay here, Argo,” Xena murmured, touching her neck lightly.

The mare blinked and started nosing around the ground near the fence, and Xena and Gabrielle went inside the tavern.

They were sitting at a table waiting for their food, when a tall man wearing a sword came up to them. Xena didn’t look up from her wine.

“Excuse me, are you Xena?” The man stood waiting for her reply, his stance respectful. Gabrielle saw Xena relax very slightly.

His face was beardless, although he had a dark shadow along his jaw. His eyes seemed clear, but his sword hand was calloused and his sword arm hard with muscle.

Xena set her cup of wine down and gestured at the bench across from her. “I’m Xena. Why do you want to know?”

The stranger slid onto the bench, across from the two women. “My name is Hermogenes, and I was sent out by Kallistrate of Nemea to find you. She said you’d be traveling this way.”

Xena arched one brow. “Kallistrate sent you? You’re absolutely sure it was Kallistrate?”

He nodded. “She told me to find you before you got within a day of the town, and tell you there was very little time left now.”

Gabrielle saw Xena’s hand clench on her cup, but it relaxed so quickly she almost thought she’d imagined it. Almost.

“When did you leave Nemea?”

The stranger answered her. “Late last night. I barely stopped to sleep. She insisted I deliver the message to you before you got much further than this.” He glanced at Gabrielle, then back to Xena. “You made good time.”

Xena looked steadily at him, then nodded once. “Well, you’ve delivered your message. You can tell Kallistrate you saw me. Thanks.” Just then the tavern owner brought their food, and the man hesitated, then got up and went back to his table in the corner.

Gabrielle took a bite of the roast chicken. “What was that about?”

Xena shook her head. “Later.”

When they finished eating, they came outside and found the dog sitting near Argo’s front feet, watching the door.

Xena was lost in thought, but seemed to come to a decision. She climbed onto Argo’s back, and held her hand down to Gabrielle. She glanced at the dog, who was standing nearby, her head tilted, watching them.

“Well, girl, let’s see how fast you can run.”

Argo moved out at a good pace, and Gabrielle gritted her teeth and hung on.  “So, who’s Kallistrate of Nemea? And why does she say there’s little time left now, when you said there was no rush before?”

Xena glanced back over her shoulder. “Her real name is Mellaina, not Kallistrate. The name “Kallistrate” is a message. She’s warning me that the Phliousans have formed an army, much sooner than we anticipated.” She looked at the position of the sun. “The question is, why?”

It was well past dark when Xena finally pulled Argo up, and let Gabrielle dismount before she jumped lightly to the ground. The dog had kept up with them, and more than kept up; she trotted into camp right behind them with a large hare dead in her jaw.

Xena made a fire while Gabrielle skinned and cleaned the hare. When it was roasted, Xena fed chunks of it to the dog while she and Gabrielle ate the rest. Xena stared at the reddish animal, lying between her and Gabrielle, the firelight flickering on her coat.

“Well, girl, you earned your keep tonight. What’s your story, hmmm?”

The dog looked at her as if she understood, and after a long time staring at Xena, she finally gave one soft woof.

Gabrielle smiled. “She’s trying to tell you.”

Xena snorted and got up, and tossed the remnants of their meal into the fire. “We should get some rest, I want to be on our way the minute the sun shows its face.”

Gabrielle got into bed, and the dog curled on her feet. She was almost asleep when she felt Xena crawl in next to her, and pull the blanket over them both. Xena’s hand was on her hair, and she stirred just a little when Xena pulled her closer.

“Xena? We should name her. The dog, I mean.”

Xena shifted to face Gabrielle. “That’s a big step, naming an animal.”

Gabrielle gave a small yawn, and then sighed as she settled into Xena’s side. “I know. But we can’t keep calling her “the dog” or “girl.”

Xena smiled in the darkness. “I don’t know, ‘Girl’ seems to suit her.”

Gabrielle wrinkled her nose. “Do you think so?” She looked down at the dog, sleeping on her feet. “Do you like that name? Girl? Or would you like something more bold, and daring, and beautiful?”

The dog lifted her head and gave Gabrielle a long look, followed by a slow blink. Then she put her head back down her paws with a sigh, and closed her eyes.

Gabrielle smiled and tucked her head against Xena’s arm, and closed hers, too.

_________________________________

  
Xena woke her the next morning while it was still dark, although there was a faint glow in the eastern sky by the time they mounted Argo and took to the road. Girl trotted along silently at Argo’s side, her head down. After three hours’ hard riding, Xena pulled Argo to a halt, and they got down. Xena walked through a stand of trees, and Gabrielle and Girl followed. It was a ledge, overlooking one of the most beautiful valleys Gabrielle had ever seen.

Xena glanced at her, then back at the valley. “They used to call this land ‘Araethyrea,’ for its beauty.” She sighed. “It’s still beautiful, but the people who live here don’t seem to care. They’ve been at war for a generation.”

Gabrielle stared down at the peaceful-seeming valley. “What’s the war about?”

Xena shrugged. “What wars are always about. Pride and profit.”

There was a narrow path leading down from the ledge, and Girl went ahead of Gabrielle, while Xena led Argo behind them. They came out at the bottom, and were challenged by two armed men.

Gabrielle clutched her staff, and Girl growled low in her throat, her hackles rising to accentuate a little ridge of hair that grew backwards along her spine.

“Kallistrate sent for me.” Xena was calm. The men immediately dropped their weapons.

The younger of the two spoke first. “Are you Xena? She told us you’d be coming.”

They led Xena to a fortified house inside the town walls, and took Argo to the stables. They tried to take Girl, but she flattened her ears and pressed against Gabrielle’s legs, growling low in her throat.

“She’s staying with me,” Gabrielle informed them pleasantly. They eagerly agreed.

They entered the house, and were brought into a large room with a campaign table, spread with maps. A tall woman, with a long brown braid down her back, wearing leathers and armor, stood up when they came in.

“Xena.”

“Mellaina.”

The other woman jerked her head, and all the men stood up and filed out.

Gabrielle stood at Xena’s right, with Girl, watching everything, and saying nothing, her staff in her hand.

Mellaina came and stood in front of Xena. “Thank you for coming. The situation has deteriorated rapidly since my last message reached you.”

Xena nodded. “Your man found me at a tavern on the road. What happened? What’s made the Phliousans call out an army? What changed?”

Mellaina shook her head. “I always knew one day they’d get enough of an idea of where Demeter’s regalia was hidden, to try to come for it. A spy in my house, a renegade member of my family, I don’t know. I do know it has to be moved. And there’s no one who can move it, Xena, but you.”

Xena stared at Mellaina for a long time. “That’s dangerous. Dealing with the gods makes it even more dangerous. And I know you’re sworn to protect the regalia, but tell me, Mellaina – why do I care if the Phliousans get it? What difference does it make which family has it?”

The woman walked back to the table and sat heavily in her chair. “Xena, I know you came here because of our friendship, and not because you share my cause, or my family’s obligation. But Demeter has been worshipped in this valley since memory began, and she entrusted her regalia to us not as an honor, but because only our family was strong enough to keep it out of the hands of thieves and profiteers.”

She picked up a goblet from the table, took a sip, and set it down. “This war has gone on too long. The Phliousans are willing to do just about anything, including bankrupt themselves and decimate their population, if it means getting the regalia and bringing this conflict to an end, with them the victors.” She picked up the cup again, and this time drained it dry, before going on.

“Demeter’s regalia includes a sacred cup, magical, if you prefer.” Xena snorted, but Mellaina shook her head. “No, it’s true. If you look into it, you can see… things. Other places, sometimes even other times. In the wrong hands… it’s a terrible, terrible weapon. But there’s more.”

Xena watched Mellaina impassively.

“I don’t know why, but lately, in my dreams, I’ve seen, over and over, a green land, heavy with mist, and the regalia safe there. And in every dream, the hand that takes it from its hiding place here, is yours.”

Xena didn’t speak for a minute. “Britannia? Are you seeing Britannia?”

Mellaina nodded. “I think so. I don’t know. You’ve been there, I never have. I need you to look.”

Xena jerked her head up. “Look?”

“Into Demeter’s cup.”

Gabrielle’s eyes widened. Mellaina stood up, and beckoned them to follow her. Girl padded after the three women as they went down a dimly lit passageway, and then down a long flight of stone stairs. After several minutes, Gabrielle felt moisture in the air, and she shivered. They were deep under the house now, and probably well outside its walls.

Mellaina stopped, and stood for a moment in front of a blank stone wall. There was one guttering torch burning in a sconce, and in its uneven light, Gabrielle saw the woman make a motion with her hand, and say a few words she didn’t recognize. The wall shimmered, and vanished. Gabrielle gasped.

Xena was unmoved, and followed Mellaina inside without hesitating. Gabrielle went after them, Girl at her side. She couldn’t help shivering as she passed through the place where the wall used to be.

On a large oaken table in the center of the room stood a huge chest. Mellaina opened it and removed a goblet, engraved and ancient looking, from it. She set it on the table, filled it with water from a crystal bottle that stood on the table, and waved her hand over it once. Then she placed it in front of Xena.

Xena stared down into the depths of the goblet, her face carefully blank. After a few moments, she nodded. “Britannia. I know that hill.”

Mellaina took the goblet back, barely glancing into it. She carefully poured the water into a small trough running down the center of the floor, wiped the goblet with a white cloth, and put it back into the chest.

They went back up to the war room, and Gabrielle could have sworn it took only a few moments to return, far shorter than the time it had taken them to go down.

Xena turned to Mellaina when they were back upstairs. “Do you have a plan, or did you leave that up to me?”

Mellaina shrugged. “There’s an exit outside the walls of the town, underground, but I’m not perfectly sure that it hasn’t been discovered. That would be a death trap.”

Xena snorted. “No, thanks.” She frowned. “Is the casket part of the regalia?”

Mellaina shook her head. “No, it’s not.”

Xena’s face cleared. “Good.”

Mellaina looked troubled. “You can’t touch the regalia, though, Xena. Nor can your friend here. It’s death to touch it unprepared, you know that.”

Xena nodded. “We shouldn’t have to touch it. We just need it out of the casket and into smaller, separate bundles. Wrap it however you have to, put whatever magical things on it that will let us take it away, and I’ll bring it out of here and get it to Britannia.”

They slept that night in a soft bed in Mellaina’s house, the first time they had slept in a bed in so long Gabrielle couldn’t remember. The softness of the mattress was soothing, and she sighed as she let herself press a little harder against Xena than she normally did, rolled in close by the dipping of the mattress. The last thing she remembered as she fell asleep was Xena’s hand stroking her hair, and a soft sigh in the darkness.

The next day, Xena and Gabrielle carried the bulky packages into their room, and distributed them among their saddlebags. Gabrielle was kneeling on the floor trying to fasten the last one, when Mellaina came in.

She sat on the carved chair near the window, and contemplated Xena, who was standing next to the bed, calmly strapping on her armor.

“Now, the only question is, once the regalia is gone, how to stop the Phliousans from taking Nemea.”

Xena contemplated the question. “How big is your army?”

Mellaina shook her head. “Not big enough. We didn’t have time to bring loyalists in from the countryside. They’ve been planning this a long time.”

“Why stop them?” It was Gabrielle from where she knelt on the floor.

Xena and Mellaina were looking at her blankly. Gabrielle asked again. “Why stop them? With the regalia gone, does it matter? Let them sack the house, just don’t be here. Let them tear it apart. It’s just stones. Let them spend themselves on this place, while you’re somewhere else, ensuring the safety of your people and their fields and livestock. While Xena and I safeguard the regalia of your goddess.”

The two women stared at Gabrielle, and then Xena snorted a laugh. Mellaina shook her head. “Who are you?”

Gabrielle shrugged. “Just someone who doesn’t like to see lives lost to save a few stones piled on top of each other.”

_________________________________

  
Xena and Gabrielle stood on the hill, Girl at their feet, watching the house being swarmed by soldiers of Phlious. The walls were falling, and fires were starting in the outbuildings, but no people, no animals, were fleeing in terror.

Gabrielle smiled. “I’m glad it worked out.”

Xena nodded. “It’s always good when people don’t have to die needlessly.”

Gabrielle looked at her. “Now what? Do we go to Britannia?”

“We go to the port at Corinth. We might have to take it ourselves, but there’s someone there who would do a better job than we can. I have to see if I can find her.”

Xena led Argo back to the road, Gabrielle and Girl walking ahead. Just as they rounded a curve in the road, Xena narrowed her eyes at the same time Girl perked her ears up. Gabrielle tightened her grip on her staff.

Pouring out of the woods came a half-dozen warriors, all on foot, with swords drawn. Xena barely had time to slap Argo’s flank, and send her running into the woods on the other side, before three men attacked her. She pulled her sword and broke two of theirs, and sent the third man flying into a tree.

Gabrielle was fighting two men, and the sixth man was nowhere to be seen. Xena whipped around just as his mace came crashing down where her head had been a moment before, and brought her leg up and drove it into his chest. He gasped for air and fell to the ground, and she hit him hard across the jaw. His head dropped back as he lost consciousness.

Girl was standing in front of Gabrielle, and one of the men kicked at her head. The dog coolly avoided his blow, and sank her teeth into his leg.

“You bitch!” he yelled, and brought his sword up to cut her down. Gabrielle knocked his arm with her staff while she kicked the other man away, but the edge of his sword sliced across Girl’s front shoulder, and the dog yelped, and turned and ran into the woods after Argo, trailing blood behind her.

Gabrielle slammed her staff into the head of the man who’d cut Girl, while Xena took down the other man. She and Gabrielle ran after Argo and Girl.

They found the mare about a mile into the woods, but there was no sign of Girl.

_________________________________

  
Gabrielle was sitting at the fire trying not to cry. She’d walked all over the woods calling the dog, and Xena had tracked her carefully, but although they saw some traces of her – stray hairs, blood – there was no sign of her anywhere. They finally made camp, and Xena sat holding Gabrielle. Neither of them felt like eating.

Gabrielle stared at the flames. “It’s not right. She had no idea what the battle was about. She had no part in it. She was just trying to protect me.”

Xena sighed, and tightened her grip on Gabrielle’s shoulders. “It’s always that way when the innocent are caught up in battles. And when they get hurt.”

The tears Gabrielle had been holding back overflowed her eyes, and she rested her head on Xena’s shoulder and let the woman pull her closer. “Oh, Xena. I wish I knew she was all right.”

Xena pressed a kiss into Gabrielle’s soft hair. “I know.”

The two of them stared into the fire for a long time, before they finally went to bed.

The moon hadn’t come up yet, and the night was quiet in its darkness. Xena sat up, and shook Gabrielle’s shoulder. “Gabrielle. Listen.”

The girl sat up, sleep-dazed, then heard a rustling in the leaves. Her hand went for her staff, but Xena stopped her. “It’s Girl.”

They both jumped up, and ran to the edge of the clearing, where the injured dog, limping badly, came towards them. They could barely see her in the dying light of the fire.

Xena carried her over to the fire while Gabrielle built it up again, so they could see the extent of her injuries. Xena washed the wound with diluted wine, and probed it carefully. Girl shuddered when she carefully moved the shoulder joint, but didn’t so much as lift her lip. She just looked away.

Xena gave her some honey with herbs in it, and stroked her head. “That’s good, Girl. You’re going to be okay.” She wrapped it with a clean bandage, and carried the dog over to their bedroll, and settled her at the foot. Gabrielle sat down cross-legged next to her, petting her back and telling her what a good, brave, noble dog she was.

Xena put her supplies away and came back to the bed, and sat down behind Gabrielle. Girl was sound asleep. “The herbs will help her sleep, as well as dim the pain.”

Gabrielle smiled at her radiantly. “She came back.”

Xena let her hand rest on Gabrielle’s head. “She did. Now, we should get some sleep. We have a long way to go tomorrow, and before we start, I have to fix Argo’s saddle so she can carry Girl. She won’t be walking on that leg for a while.”

Gabrielle threw her arms around Xena and showered her face with kisses. “She’ll really be all right?”

Xena smiled. “Yes, Gabrielle. She really will.”

The two of them lay down, and Gabrielle stared at the fire as it died back down, the weight of Girl warm on her feet. After a while, her eyes drifted closed. She was almost asleep, but not quite, when she realized she was nestling into Xena, and her hand was burrowing under Xena’s arm, brushing the side of Xena’s breast. She heard Xena’s breath catch, and the woman gently shifted, rolling over until she was looking down at Gabrielle beneath her.

Gabrielle opened her eyes.

Xena stared at her, and leaned down and kissed her, not softly, the way she’d always kissed her before. She kissed her hard, and opened her mouth, and Gabrielle gave a little whimper and let her tongue brush against Xena’s, just for a second.

Xena pulled back and looked down at the girl lying under her. She smiled, but there was a ghost of sadness in it. She stroked Gabrielle’s hair softly.

“Is this what you want, Gabrielle?”

Gabrielle stared back at her, and nodded. She didn’t think she could speak.

Xena leaned down, letting her hair fall like a curtain around them, her lips brushing Gabrielle’s forehead softly. “Be sure, Gabrielle. Because there are things you can’t ever go back from.”

Gabrielle swallowed, and then licked her lips. She never took her eyes off Xena’s. “I’m sure.” She was whispering. “I’m sure, Xena.” Then she reached up her arms and locked them around Xena’s neck, and pulled her close, and kissed her.

Xena gave a moan and attacked Gabrielle’s mouth with hers, letting her hand move under Gabrielle’s shift and cup her breast. Her thumb gently brushed the girl’s nipple, and Gabrielle arched up and gasped. Xena’s mouth was trailing kisses all along her neck, and she tilted her head back and let Xena kiss her throat.

Xena pulled her up, and gently lifted her shift off over her head, and then pulled her own off. Gabrielle put her hands on Xena’s arms, and let her fingers trail down them, and then softly pressed her palms against the sides of Xena’s breasts. She buried her face in the softness between them, and moaned as Xena’s hands started stroking her back.

Gabrielle went up on her knees, holding onto Xena, and kissing her frantically. Xena tried to soothe her, tried to get her to lie down, but Gabrielle just kept kissing her, pressing her hands against Xena’s breasts, and straddling Xena’s bare thigh.

Xena pressed her leg up against Gabrielle’s crotch, and forced her back onto the bed, keeping their mouths locked together. She slid her hands up on either side of Gabrielle’s face, and then up into her hair. She finally broke the kiss.

Gabrielle moaned as Xena’s hands stroked down her shoulders and arms, and then across her breasts. Xena’s palms brushed her nipples, and then her mouth followed, tongue gently lapping at one, then the other. Her hand slipped between Gabrielle’s thighs, pressing them apart a little more, then brushing through the wetness and the heat.

Xena kept stroking her, and Gabrielle felt herself get dizzy, get wetter and softer and hotter, and pushed her nipple harder into Xena’s mouth. She didn’t realize she was almost keening, when her back arched up and she gave a broken cry, and shuddered over and over against Xena’s hand.

She finally dropped back against the blanket, almost sobbing. Xena pressed her face into the hollow between Gabrielle’s breasts, and kissed her, right over her pounding heart. She knelt over the girl, her hair falling again around them. Gabrielle felt sheltered, even while she was still shaking. Xena kissed her softly, and brought Gabrielle’s hand between her legs while she knelt over her, her heavy breasts brushing against Gabrielle beneath her.

Gabrielle let Xena guide her fingers between the other woman’s legs. Xena brushed Gabrielle’s fingers through her soft curls, wet and springy, and then Xena moved her fingers down and up, spreading her lips. The girl gave another cry and jerked up and kissed Xena fiercely when her fingers touched something smooth and firm in the center of all that heat and liquid, and Xena’s legs tightened briefly around Gabrielle’s arm.

Gabrielle kept letting Xena guide her fingers, and after a few minutes, she felt everything changing around her hand, getting softer and hotter, and the smooth spot under her finger got firmer, and then Xena moaned. She held Gabrielle’s hand against her, hard, while she clenched the back of Gabrielle’s neck with her free hand, and choked out her name.

Gabrielle woke up much later, alone. The moon was shining down on the camp, and she saw Xena sitting on a fallen log on the other side of the fire. She slipped her feet out from under Girl, and walked over and sat next to her.

Xena smiled softly at Gabrielle, and let the girl slip under her arm.

“Xena? Why did you get up?”

She sighed. “I couldn’t sleep.” She looked right at Gabrielle, and her eyes softened. “I didn’t want to wake you.”

Gabrielle smiled at her, and Xena couldn’t keep from smiling back. Gabrielle lifted her hand to Xena’s face, and lightly touched her cheek. “Are you all right, Xena?”

Xena gazed into her eyes. “I’m fine, Gabrielle. Are you?”

“I’ve never been so happy.” She was whispering. “I love you, Xena.”

Xena sighed and bent her forehead down and touched it to Gabrielle’s. “I love you, too Gabrielle. It’s just… this is a rough life.”

Gabrielle nodded. “I know. I’ve always known that. It’s what I want.”

Just then, Girl walked silently up to them, and rested her head on Gabrielle’s leg.

Xena smiled, and stroked the dog’s head. “I guess it’s just something I have to get used to. Sometimes when a girl wants to follow you, it’s better to just give in.”

Gabrielle smiled, leaned forward and kissed Xena softly. “It really is.”


	2. Her Own Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The adventure continues...

  
  
  
**Her Own Girl**  
By Xie

“_Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage_.” - Lao Tzu

Gabrielle opened her eyes just enough to see it was still dark. She felt Girl sleeping on her feet, heavy and warm, and Xena sleeping next to her. She listened, but didn’t hear anything.

Xena shifted against her, and Gabrielle felt a little cold air slip in under the blanket. She burrowed against Xena, closing the gap between them, and wriggled her feet more deeply under the sleeping dog.

The next time she opened her eyes, the sky was still dark, but with that extra radiance it sometimes has just before morning. Xena’s eyes were open, too, and Gabrielle tightened her arm across her waist, not letting her slide out of the blankets. She didn’t say anything, just held on, and tilted her face up to Xena, waiting.

Xena smiled at Gabrielle, and leaned down and kissed her. “We have a long way to go today, we need to get started.”

Xena got up, and Gabrielle sighed, holding onto the warmth of the bedroll for one minute more. Then she pulled her feet out from under Girl, threw back the blankets, and jumped up.

The red dog opened one eye and made a little groaning noise, then went back to sleep. Gabrielle knelt down and checked the bandage on the half-healed sword wound on her shoulder. They’d been on the road almost a week, Girl riding on an improvised perch on Argo’s saddle, while they headed for the port at Corinth. Xena was hoping to find a priestess she knew who lived there, who might be willing to transport the regalia to Britannia for them.

Gabrielle stirred up the fire, and set a pot of last night’s stew in the coals to warm. Xena finished strapping the fabric-wrapped bundles they were transporting to Corinth onto Argo, and walked over to the bedroll. “How’s your shoulder today, Girl?”

Girl blinked at Xena, who crouched down and gently examined the wound. “It’s healing well, Gabrielle. She can walk today, at least for a while.”

Gabrielle smiled, and Girl looked at Xena and thumped her tail.

They returned to the road after they ate and broke camp, and at midday came to a small town on the Corinth road. Xena frowned at the sky. Every hour the clouds got grayer and heavier with water, but the rain still didn’t fall. She counted a few coins out of the saddlebag.

“Get something we don’t have to cook, I think we’ll be in someone’s barn tonight.”

Gabrielle took the coins and went into a small shop, Girl trotting at her side. Xena pretended to check Argo’s foot, letting her eyes sweep around the small village.

Gabrielle looked at Xena’s face when she came back, but knew better than to ask the cause of her carefully blank expression. She slipped her purchases into the bag, and followed Xena a little way down the road towards Corinth before finally speaking. “Xena… what is it? What’s wrong?”

Xena shook her head, and looked down the road behind them. Gabrielle didn’t see or hear anything, but Xena’s eyes were clouded. “Did you notice all the horses in that village?”

Gabrielle thought for a minute. “No, not really.”

“There’s no way a village that size would have that many horses, something’s not right.”

They kept traveling towards Corinth, but after they’d gone less than a mile, Xena stopped again. “Do you hear that?”

Girl was facing forward with her hackles raised, and Argo’s ears were twitching, but Gabrielle didn’t hear anything unusual. She slowly shook her head at Xena’s question. “What is it?”

“Ambush.” Xena’s voice was terse.

Gabrielle took her staff off Argo’s saddle, and listened again. She heard the sound of the wind in the leaves, and a distance noise of rushing water, and then, so faint she could barely make it out, twigs cracking, and a metallic clanking sound.

The road ahead of them was lined with trees, but they had stopped next to a small clearing. Gabrielle saw a glint of something moving up ahead, and then a gang of armed men boiled up out of the woods, racing towards them.

Girl fell back behind Argo, and Xena and Gabrielle stepped in front of the horse. Gabrielle felt the shock on her arms and shoulders as her staff took the force of a vicious blow. The man’s sword flew out of his hands with the impact, and Gabrielle brought the staff down on his head before he had a chance to reclaim it.

Another man hurtled past her, heading for Argo, and Gabrielle whirled around, catching him behind the knees with her staff, and sending him crashing to the ground. She kicked his sword away. He tried to get up, and she brought her staff down on his head. He fell heavily to the ground.

Gabrielle stayed near Argo, and circled around closer to Xena. The mare stood steady even with the sound of sword on sword, and the curses of the fighters. Out of the corner of her eye, Gabrielle saw Girl moving hesitantly around to Argo’s other side, her bandaged shoulder hampering her.

Two fighters came at Xena at once, but she kicked one man’s sword away with her left foot, and knocked the other one down with the flat of her sword. There were three men left, and two of them rushed Xena and Gabrielle while the third circled wide into the clearing, trying to get behind Argo. Girl erupted from behind the mare’s rear legs, fangs bared, and he hesitated just long enough for Xena’s chakram to knock his sword far into the undergrowth bordering the woods.

Girl drove him away from Argo, and Gabrielle managed to get between him and the mare, her staff spinning. He dodged the first pass, but the second connected with his ribs. His face crumpled in agony, and he turned and tried to escape back the way they’d come. Xena tripped him as he ran past, and he didn’t try to get up again.

Xena led Argo into the woods, Gabrielle and Girl following. They came to a game trail and carefully followed it, and then crossed a small stream. Xena stood and listened, Argo’s reins in her hand, and Gabrielle quietly knelt and checked Girl’s shoulder. The wound hadn’t opened.

Xena glanced down at Gabrielle. “They’re not following.”

Gabrielle nodded. “Who were they?”

Xena frowned. “Obviously, they were after the regalia, but they didn’t look like Phliousians. I don’t know who they were.” Xena turned to face Gabrielle. “I know this: They’ll try again. I need to go back to that town and find out what I can about who they are. But I need you to do something, too, Gabrielle.”

Gabrielle fixed her eyes on Xena’s face, her hands tightening on her staff. Girl was sitting next to her, and she looked up at Xena, too.

“We go back to the village, and say we were attacked on the road and need more supplies. Then we split up – I’ll take Argo and what looks like the regalia, and try to draw them off, while you slip away with the real regalia. We’ll meet up about half a day’s journey towards Corinth, at that village where the festival was, you know the one.”

Gabrielle nodded. Xena’s eyes softened, and she stepped close to the girl, putting her hands on either side of her face. “Promise me, Gabrielle, if I’m not there by the next morning, you’ll take the regalia to Corinth without me.”

Gabrielle stared. “Xena, no…”

Xena cut her off. “Promise me.”

Their stood like that for a long time, and Gabrielle finally looked away. “All right.”

Xena turned her face back firmly. “Promise.”

Gabrielle jerked her chin from Xena’s grip. “I promise. Now let’s go.”

Xena sighed, and turned Argo’s head back towards the road.

_________________________________

Gabrielle slipped into the forest behind the village, Girl at her heels and her bag slung across her back. “I hope you’re feeling like hunting, Girl, because Xena threw out most of the food to make room for the regalia.” Girl blinked up at her, then trotted slightly ahead, not even limping on her injured shoulder.

It was only half a day’s journey to the rendezvous point, but it was already dark, so Gabrielle made camp only a few hours out of the village. She and Girl shared what food they had, and then Gabrielle checked her bandage. The wound looked clean and healthy, so she didn’t replace it. Girl thumped her tail.

The rain had held off so far, but before dawn, Gabrielle woke up to drops falling on her face. Girl had burrowed under the blankets, and mumbled in her sleep. “Sorry to roust you, Girl, but in a minute that blanket’s going to soak through, and you won’t like that. Up!”

The fire hadn’t gone all the way out, so she scattered it, and they headed towards the Corinth road.

___________________________________

Xena left Argo, bundles looking just like those concealing the regalia strapped to her saddle, in a dense part of the woods outside the town. She whispered something in the mare’s ear, and walked up about a quarter mile down a game path. A smile flickered across her lips, and she whipped out her sword while spinning around, just as a blade crashed towards her head. The armed man fell, and Xena dropped to her knees on his chest, jabbing at his throat with her fingers.

He stared up at her, his eyes huge and terrified. A drop of blood formed at the corner of his mouth. Xena smiled, her eyes feral. “I’ve just cut off the flow of blood to your brain. You have one minute to tell me who sent you, and why, or you’ll die. It’s that simple. Talk.”

The man choked. “Up the road. Phrixos has an encampment. Hired to steal the regalia.”

Xena took the choke off him with one thrust, but then grabbed his armor and hauled him close to her face. He coughed and sputtered, and she hissed. “Hired by who? Why?”

The man shook his head. “Don’t know.” He flinched at the look in her eyes. “I swear, I don’t know!”

Xena loosened her grip on him, and gave his skull a sharp blow with the side of her hand. He fell back, unconscious. She moved through the forest,  next to the road, until she heard a sound. Xena climbed a tree, and saw the edges of an army encampment. This was no bandit camp, no smalltime warlord. This was war.

Xena went back to where she’d left Argo, and rode deeper into the forest, away from the army. She made a fireless camp that night. Near dawn, rain started to fall, and mixed in with the sound of rain on the leaves, she heard something else, a rustling noise, the faintest exhalation of air from a man’s lungs.

She rolled over and sprung to her feet, in time to see a tall figure standing on the far side of Argo, about to mount her. She snorted. “She’ll never move with you on her back.”

The man bolted for the deep woods beyond the small clearing, but Xena launched herself flat-out towards him, and tackled him to the ground. She knelt behind him, hauling him up so his back was pressed against her chest, her arm locked around his neck. She ripped the hood off his head with her free hand, revealing a man with a head of short, dark hair and a mustache.

Xena unlocked her arm from around his neck. “Autolycus. I should have known. Who else would have the sheer gall to think he could steal Argo?”

The thief coughed and rubbed his throat. “Xena. Good morning. Nice day if it doesn’t rain, don’t you think?”

Xena jerked him to his feet. “What are you doing here? Don’t tell me you’re in the pay of this army? That’s not your style.”

Autolycus shook his head. “I have nothing to do with the army. I was hired by Phrixos to retrieve some religious artifacts stolen from the Phliousians. He has a priestess with him.” He stretched his neck, and rubbed his throat again. “And a chest full of gold.”

Xena snorted. “I’ll bet. Well, old _friend_, you can take me to this Phrixos and his priestess, but I think we’ll just wait and see what he wanted with the regalia before we introduce him to Argo.”

Xena led the mare into the deep undergrowth on the south side of the clearing, and pulled a hooded cloak out of the saddlebag. Then she whispered in Argo’s ear, telling her to stay.

When she got back to the camp, Autolycus was waiting for her. “You know, Xena, maybe going back to Phrixos isn’t the best plan. Maybe we should just take the regalia and be on our way. Maybe I misread the situation…”

“Maybe you should shut up and take me to him.” Xena gave him a hard shove at the small of his back.

“As I was saying, this way.”

Autolycus led Xena to the camp, and gave an apologetic cough when the guards waved him through. Xena rolled her eyes.

They slogged through the mud to what was obviously the commander’s tent. Autolycus started to speak, but Xena’s hand closed like a vise on his shoulder, silencing him. She smiled at one of the guards, but it wasn’t a pleasant smile. “Tell Phrixos Xena has something that belongs to him.”

The guard hesitated a moment, then jerked his head and disappeared inside the tent. Xena started to whistle. Autolycus looked nervous.

A few seconds later, the guard re-appeared, and held the tent flap open. Xena strolled inside, Autolycus following her.

A tall man with a scarred face was sitting at a rough table. Next to him stood a woman, a cloak around her shoulders, bordered with needlework. A heavy gold amulet hung around her neck. Xena barely glanced at her. “Phrixos. I somehow got the idea you were looking for me.”

He gestured towards the woman at his side. “Not I. She was.”

The woman looked directly into Xena’s eyes. “Xena.”

“Ellyn.”

Autolycus jerked in surprise. “Wait, you two know each other?”

Xena shrugged. “You could say that.”

Ellyn leaned forward, her hands resting on the table. “Xena, I know you have a personal loyalty to Mellaina, but she was wrong to try to send the regalia of Demeter out of Greece. It belongs here. You must return it to its rightful owner.”

Xena looked at Ellyn’s face, and raised a brow. “The Phliousians?”

Ellyn made a dismissive gesture. “The Phliousians are brigands. No, to me. Only I can safely restore it to its intended use. And after all – weren’t you bringing it to me in the first place?”

Xena smiled. “It’s possible we have something to discuss. Alone.”

Ellyn lifted one hand, and everyone but Phrixos and Autolycus left the room. Xena shook her head. “I said, alone.”

Ellyn nodded, and Phrixos, his face red, stood and left the room. Xena gave an almost imperceptible nod to Autolycus, and he reluctantly filed after the warlord.

“Ellyn.” Xena’s voice was fierce. “What’s going on?”

Ellyn shook her head, and held her finger to her mouth. She motioned Xena closer. “Xena, you’re right. The regalia must be taken to Britannia. Do you really think I’d make common cause with these men? But I need their help.” She gazed steadily at the warrior. “Unless I can have yours.”

Xena stared long and hard at Ellyn, then nodded. “Can you get away alone?”

The priestess looked disdainful. “Of course.”

Xena nodded. “Tonight. After the last change of the watch. I’ll take you to where the regalia is hidden.”

____________________________________

Gabrielle stood in the doorway of the abandoned barn, waiting for Xena. She strained her ears, but couldn’t hear anything over the steady fall of rain on the roof, and the wind blowing through the trees.

Girl had gone out an hour or more ago, and Gabrielle wished she’d come back. It was getting dark.

Almost as if in response to her thought, the red dog silently slipped out from the bushes near the path, a hare in her jaw. She trotted up to Gabrielle, and dropped her prey at her feet. Gabrielle crouched down, grabbing the hare by its hind legs, and petting Girl’s head. “What a good girl you are, catching our dinner. I’d be hungry without you tonight, in all this rain.”

Gabrielle started a fire under an overhang off the barn, and cleaned and skinned the hare while it caught. She’d kept the wood as dry as she could after gathering it, but it still smoked and gutted. She shared the cooked hare with Girl, and then curled up with the dog inside the barn, wondering where Xena was that night.

The next morning, the rain was falling harder, and the sky was barely lighter after the sun rose than before. Gabrielle started a new fire, and wished she had something more than some dried fruit for her breakfast. She sat on her heels, Girl’s head on her leg. “I bet you don’t want any dried fruit, do you girl?”

She offered the dog a piece, and Girl ate it up. Gabrielle laughed. “Or maybe you do.” She ate another piece, then gave one to Girl, until they were gone. Then she sighed. “I hope she gets here soon.”

By lunchtime, Gabrielle’s grumbling stomach could be heard even over the beat of the rain. She knew she’d promised Xena if she wasn’t there by now, she’d take the regalia to Corinth. But surely Xena was just delayed by the storm? Maybe she’d just start back the way Xena was coming, and they’d meet on the way. She could pick up the west road to Corinth instead.

Gabrielle pulled her rain cloak out of her bag, and stowed her bedroll with the regalia. She picked up her staff, and called Girl. “Let’s go find Xena,” she said to the dog.

Girl’s ears picked up, and she started down behind the barn, in the opposite direction Gabrielle wanted to go. “No, Girl, come back. Let’s go this way.”

Girl trotted back to her, then turned around and woofed once over her shoulder and went back towards the woods again. Gabrielle shook her head. “Girl, come back here. We have to go find Xena. Come on.”

She muttered to herself as she tromped down the muddy path after the dog. Girl was waiting for her where the path disappeared into the undergrowth, and the minute she saw Gabrielle was following, she darted ahead.

“Girl! Come back!” Gabrielle kept going after the dog, who was for some reason completely ignoring her. Every now and then she caught up with her, but the minute Girl saw Gabrielle, she ran off again. Cursing and stumbling, Gabrielle kept up her fruitless calling for a quarter of an hour.

She eventually came to a pile of fallen logs, woven together in some huge crashing windstorm, now grown over with moss and wet with rain. Girl was sitting next to them, but when she saw Gabrielle, slithered through a gap between the trees and the ground.

“I can’t fit in there, Girl. Hold on, we have to go back.” Gabrielle surveyed the pile of logs, and with a sigh started clambering over them. Just as she got to the highest point, her foot slipped down into the crevice between two trees. She worked it free easily, but there was a long gash on her calf.

After she climbed down, Girl was waiting for her. But not for long. Ignoring the pain in her leg, Gabrielle followed.

The rain didn’t stop falling all day, but after a few hours, Girl led her into a small village. Gabrielle took a few coins from the outer pouch on her bag, and went in for a hot meal. Girl slipped under the table and ate the bits of roast chicken Gabrielle slipped to her.

Gabrielle left the village behind with a sigh, wishing more than anything that she was warm and dry. Or cold and wet, but with Xena.

Girl was still trotting ahead, looking over her shoulder from time to time to see that Gabrielle was following. Gabrielle had no idea where they were, but at least this path was a real path, almost a road, and not a cross country endurance course.

Girl froze, and turned around, a low growl in her throat. Gabrielle gripped her staff and spun around in time to send the man grabbing for her bag, knife in hand, sprawling in the mud. She kicked his knife to the side of the road, and Girl came and put her front legs on him, growling and showing her teeth.

Gabrielle planted the end of her staff on his throat. “Good girl,” she told the dog. She narrowed her eyes at the man. “I know you. You were at Mellaina’s castle. You were one of her officers.”

He spat at her. Girl snapped at him, catching his jaw with the edge of her tooth.

“Bitch,” he hissed. Girl growled.

“Yes, she is,” Gabrielle said pleasantly. “I can be a bit of a bitch myself.” She smacked him in the head with her staff, and his head thudded to the wet ground. Gabrielle looked down at Girl.

“This is odd. How did he know we’d be here, or that we have the regalia?” Girl just looked at her, then started trotting slowly down the road. Hesitating just a moment, Gabrielle went after her. After a few yards, the dog cut off onto a game trail. Gabrielle followed.

_________________________________

Ellyn had taken Xena and Autolycus to a small tent so they could eat and rest until later that night. When they were alone, Autolycus turned to Xena. “What’s going on?”

Xena shook her head. “I don’t know, but I do know I’m being lied to.”

Autolycus nodded. “It seemed awfully convenient. How well do you know this priestess?”

“Not as well as I thought.” Xena looked grim. “I wish I knew where Gabrielle was.”

Autolycus stared. “She has the regalia, not you.”

Xena shrugged.

“You don’t know where she is?”

She shrugged again. “I was supposed to meet her yesterday. If I didn’t show up, she was supposed to take the regalia to Corinth.”

Autolycus looked confused. “Then she’s on her way to Corinth?”

Xena snorted. “Have you met Gabrielle? Of course not. She’s out there, somewhere, looking for me.”

He nodded.

They sat in silence for a while, waiting for the changing of the watch. The Xena checked her cloak, but it was still damp. The rain kept pounding on the roof of the tent.

Ellyn finally came for them, wrapped in a dark cloak, her gold amulet hidden. “Be as quiet as possible,” she said.

Xena and Autolycus followed the priestess into the rain. After they passed the perimeter of the camp, avoiding the guards, Ellyn glanced at Xena. “Where are we going?”

“To the regalia. My friend Gabrielle has it.”

Autolycus started next to Xena, but didn’t say anything.

Ellyn nodded, and after a little while, let Xena take the lead. As they crossed a small stream, Xena noticed the rain was stopping, and there was a small break in the clouds. The moon shone down on the thicket where she’d left Argo.

“Gabrielle!” she called.

The young woman stopped out into the moonlight, Girl at her side. With one stride Xena went to her, and pulled her into a tight embrace. She pressed her mouth to her ear. “She’s lying to get the regalia. This is a trap.”

Gabrielle turned her head as if she were kissing Xena’s neck. “I know, I saw the army camp. And there’s a war party beyond the thicket.”

Xena smiled and stepped back, and turned to face Ellyn. “Give her the regalia, Gabrielle. This is the priestess we were looking for. It seems she’s found us.”

Gabrielle smiled at the woman. “Good, that saves us an unnecessary journey.” She reached behind her, as if she were getting her bag, but picked up her staff instead. Just at that moment, a group of armed warriors appeared behind Ellyn.

The priestess didn’t even look behind her, just smiled. “I’m sorry, Xena, but I think you have something that belongs to me. Hand it over, and I’ll let you and your friends go.”

Xena’s smile glittered in the moonlight. “Not tonight, Ellyn.”

The soldiers swarmed around the priestess, swords drawn. Xena gave a cry and leapt into the air, kicking two soldiers at once in the throat. They sprawled on their backs on either side of Ellyn.

This time three men rushed Xena, while another ducked under his comrade’s arm to swing at Gabrielle. She deflected his sword with her staff, then brought it into his solar plexus, hard. He fell.

Autolycus came up behind Ellyn, and whipped a rope around her upper arms and chest. She struggled, then sank back. He fell on top of her, but got the rope around her arms and bound her tightly. She lay on the ground, furious. “You’ll pay for this, fool. Do not anger my goddess.”

The thief smiled at her. “I don’t know about your goddess, lady, I’m just trying not to anger the tall one over there with the whip.”

She kicked at him impotently with her legs, but he ignored her, whirling around and meeting a descending sword with his own. He surged up towards the man attacking him, and drove him towards Xena and Gabrielle.

The sounds of the fight, and the grunts of the fallen men, were deafening in the darkness, but Ellyn smiled. She edged along the ground until she felt the knife she had deftly worked out of Autolycus’ boot with her fingers, and sawed against it until her bonds were cut. Then she picked it up, and crawled to the edge of the clearing.

Gabrielle drove her staff into the leg of a man swinging a mace at her head, and then cracked him under the chin with the other end. Xena’s sword rang against her opponent’s blade, and before he could parry, she sent him flying backwards with one kick. Gabrielle spun around and saw Autolycus fighting on the other side of the clearing, but before she could go to help him, one of the fallen men reached up and tried to pull Gabrielle down. She hit him in the head with her staff, just as the flat of Xena’s sword came down hard the head of the man she was fighting. He fell in a heap next to his comrade.

Xena and Gabrielle sprinted across the clearing where Autolycus was fighting the last of the soldiers, but before they had crossed half the distance, Ellyn stood up suddenly from her hiding place on the edge of the woods. Her arm, holding Autolycus’ own knife, caught a glint of moonlight as she moved to draw it across his throat from behind.

A red streak leapt out of the thicket. Girl had seen all she cared to see of human blades, but she still fixed her teeth on the priestess’ arm, dragging her down and away from Autolycus. He whipped around and drove his sword into Ellyn’s chest as she lunged upward once more with the knife.

Her eyes looked stunned, and then they froze. She said one word… “No…” and then blood gushed out of her mouth, and she fell back.

Autolycus stood next to Ellyn’s body, his face frozen in shock. Xena rested her hand on his back. “She was going to cut your throat. While your back was turned.”

He nodded, but his voice was numb. “I know.” The man knelt down in the mud, and put his hand on Girl’s head. “You saved me. Good girl.”

Gabrielle beamed down at them. “She is. She really is.”

Xena and Gabrielle buried Ellyn in a shallow grave, while Autolycus sat on a rock, cleaning his sword. After they were done, Gabrielle went and sat on one side of him, while Xena sat on the other.

Xena put her hand on his shoulder. “You were just defending yourself.”

He nodded, and sheathed his sword. “I know.”

Xena looked at his face for a minute, then got up and disappeared into the thicket where Argo still waited.

Gabrielle bit her lip and watched Autolycus’ face. She shifted a little closer to him, and let her shoulder bump his arm. A smile flickered across his face, and he bumped her back.

The thief cleared his throat. “I’m not cut out to be a warrior. I think I’ll stick with my first career choice.”

“Theft?” Gabrielle’s tone was dry.

“It’s an honorable and ancient trade.” He stood up, and bowed to Gabrielle with a flourish. “And with that, fair lady, I’ll say goodbye to you and your fierce companion.”

Xena emerged from the thicket, leading Argo. Autolycus walked up to her, and they gripped forearms. She stood watching him disappear up the path back to the village.

___________________________

Gabrielle dumped another armload of wood next to the fire, so it could dry out overnight. She knelt down and spread out the bedroll, and Girl circled three times, then lay down at the foot of it.

Xena was brushing Argo on the edge of the camp, and Gabrielle undressed and slipped under the blankets. She was drowsing in the fire’s warmth, listening to the murmur of the night insects, when she felt Xena beside her. She opened her eyes.

Xena was kneeling next to Gabrielle, her long hair falling over her shift, her legs bare. She stretched out her hand and brushed her fingers through Gabrielle’s hair, and Gabrielle nestled her head into her palm.

Xena lay down, and Gabrielle pulled the blanket up over both of them. The two women faced each other, legs tangling together.

Gabrielle brushed her lips against Xena’s jaw. “Xena, what do you think happened to Ellyn?”

She shifted against Gabrielle, trailing her hand up and down her thigh. “I don’t know. The usual things, I suppose, power. Pride. Greed. But it doesn’t fit the Ellyn I knew.”

Gabrielle rolled into Xena, bringing her leg up over the other woman’s hip. Xena’s hand moved to the inside of her thigh, tracing the smooth skin there. Gabrielle took a deep breath, and just lay there, feeling Xena’s hand stroking a dizzying pattern from the back of her knee to the tender spot where her thigh joined her groin, and down again.

Xena smiled into Gabrielle’s hair as the younger woman pressed into her thigh, letting her hand slide down her arm and up inside the warmth of her shift, cupping her breast. Gabrielle’s mouth was on hers then, fierce and hot and open. Xena felt herself getting dizzy and a little lost, rolling onto her back and pulling Gabrielle with her.

Gabrielle sat straddling Xena, the firelight behind her, and laughed. Xena reached up and grabbed her hands. “What are you laughing at?”

“How did you know I’d be with Argo?”

Xena thought for a minute. “I knew you’d never go to Corinth without me. And I figured you’d find me somehow.”

Gabrielle tilted her head to the side. “It wasn’t me, it was Girl. She went right to you.” She glanced at her leg. “Over land. By the most direct route possible. Regardless of obstacles.”

Xena laughed. “Sounds like a good match for someone I know.”

Gabrielle dropped down suddenly, and nipped at Xena’s jaw.

“Hey!” Xena sat up, holding Gabrielle’s face in both her hands. “That hurt!”

Gabrielle rolled onto her back, still laughing. Xena bent over her, looking into her eyes, and kissed her.

This time Gabrielle let her legs fall apart as she pulled Xena down onto her, and Xena slid down her body and gently kissed and licked between her thighs. Gabrielle gave a little cry and bent her legs more, and Xena let one hand reach up across her stomach, and clasp the girl’s hand.

They were lying in each other’s arms, the light from the fire almost gone, right on the edge of sleep.

“Xena?”

Xena sighed. “Yes?”

“Are we still going to Corinth?”

Xena didn’t answer right away. “I think we have to. We have to find Ellyn’s order, see what’s going on. And find a way to get the regalia to Britannia, or take it there ourselves. And all that means we go to Corinth.”

Xena felt sleep filling her mind again, but Gabrielle’s voice broke the spell one more time.

“If you knew I wouldn’t go to Corinth without you, why did you make me promise?”

Xena looked at her. “Habit.”

Gabrielle snuggled closer. “Don’t make me promise to leave you again.”

Xena stared over Gabrielle’s head at the dying fire for a long time. Just as she felt the younger woman’s breathing fade into the gentle rhythm of sleep, she whispered, “I promise.”


	3. The Road to Corinth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter...

  
  
  
**The Road to Corinth**  
By Xie

“_Trying to understand is like straining through muddy water. Be still and allow the mud to settle_.” – Lao Tzu

Gabrielle pushed her rain-sodden hair out of her face, and sneezed. “I’m telling you, Xena, no more crowds. No more towns, no more armies. They’re hotbeds of pestilence and plague.” She huddled into her hooded cloak and sneezed again, either as a form of emphasis or because she couldn’t help it.

Xena glanced at her, amused. “I don’t think you have the plague, Gabrielle.”

“It was a metaphor, Xena.” She sounded indignant and also extremely congested. Xena sighed, and shook her own wet hair off her equally wet forehead.

They kept walking for a while, and when Gabrielle spoke again, her voice was wistful. “I don’t suppose there’s an inn anytime soon? Some hot wine with honey would feel good.”

Xena squinted at the road. “There’s a decent enough one about an hour down the road.” She glanced at the girl next to her. “You should ride until we get there.”

Gabrielle coughed a little, and sneezed. Twice. “Maybe I will try riding. Just until we get there.”

Xena frowned, and gave Gabrielle a leg up onto Argo’s back. Girl, who had vanished into the woods shortly after they’d set off that morning, reappeared. She sat on the driest spot in the muddy road, her head tipped to the side, apparently contemplating Gabrielle’s new perch.

“Let’s go.” Xena resettled the pack containing the regalia wrapped in its magical bindings, and then picked up Argo’s reins. She set off, horse and dog trotting behind her.

Gabrielle sneezed.

________________________

When they got to the inn, Xena sat Gabrielle at a rough wooden table, Girl and the regalia in its pack at her feet. Gabrielle’s forehead was lightly covered in sweat, even though she was shivering with the cold. Xena didn’t ask what she wanted; she just ordered chicken broth and wine with honey, to which she added some herbs from a packet she’d dug out of her saddlebag. She set the goblet down on the table. “Drink this.”

Gabrielle didn’t ask what it was, or even sniff it. She just sipped listlessly at it, her eyes half-closed.

Xena hesitated. Their errand was urgent, and the rain was making the road less passable with each storm. Ships didn’t leave Corinth for Brittania all that often. Unless they were prepared to give every brigand and renegade priestess who might be on their trail a chance to find them and the regalia, hunkering down for a month or more in Corinth wasn’t something Xena was ready to do.

“You should leave me here.” Gabrielle’s voice was flat, but she raised her eyes to Xena’s. She had pushed the hood off her face, and Xena reached out and took the cloak off. She strode with it to the fire, and spread it out to dry. When she came back, Gabrielle was staring at her soup as if she wasn’t sure what to do with it.

Xena picked up the bowl and helped her drink the hot broth, and set the bowl down after she’d had a few sips. She laid her hand on the girl’s hot forehead. “Gabrielle, you’re too sick to go on. We’ll stay here tonight, give you a chance to get well.” Her voice was soft, but it toughened with her next words. “And I’m not leaving you here alone and sick, so don’t say it again.”

Gabrielle looked around the small inn, and shook her head. “We’ll never make Corinth before the ship sails, Xena. We have to keep going.”

“We have time. We have nine, ten days, and we should be there in six.”

The girl frowned. “You said eight yesterday.”

“Six, seven.” Xena shrugged. “If we ride, six.”

Gabrielle shook her head again. “I’ll rest when we get to Corinth.” She sneezed. “And maybe we can stay at an inn tonight, somewhere further down the road.”

Later that evening, Xena cursed every god she knew, and a few she’d never met, for not granting that wish. The rain was coming down harder than ever, and they were both soaked to the skin by the time they found an abandoned barn and made camp. Xena built a fire beneath a section of the roof with a gaping hole in it. The rain falling through the hole in the roof caused the blaze to sputter and smoke, but she made a place for Gabrielle on the least smoky side of the fire.

Girl carefully shook herself off in the doorway, and lay down near the fire until her coat was dry. Then she went and curled on the blankets, her chin on Gabrielle’s leg. Gabrielle didn’t really wake up, but her hand moved down and rested on Girl’s head.

Gabrielle was sleeping so soundly Xena didn’t wake her up to eat the broth she’d heated on the fire. She just left it to simmer on the edge of the coals, along with water for tea.

Xena sat cross-legged by the fire, half dreaming and half watching Gabrielle’s chest rise and fall. Twice the girl woke up enough to cough, but most of her night was peaceful. Finally Xena curled up behind her, and closed her own eyes.

She woke up when Gabrielle rose, but didn’t open her eyes until she felt her come back to the blankets. “Here, have some soup.”

Xena sat up and took the mug from Gabrielle’s hand. The girl dropped down next to her, and drank her tea while Xena finished off the broth. Girl was cleaning the pan Gabrielle had put down for her.

Argo was eating her breakfast of hot grains in the best of the stalls in the abandoned barn, and Xena went outside to check the skies. It wasn’t raining, but the clouds were still dark and heavy.

Gabrielle appeared at her side. “Is it ever going to stop raining?”

“It’s like this in Britannia,” Xena commented, and then froze. She could smell the wet, green hills of that country, hear the rain drumming on a thousand soldier’s shields, feel the ground vibrate with the sound of legions marching. She shook her head, and it all vanished.

“Xena?” Gabrielle’s hand was on her arm. “What is it?”

Xena turned back towards the barn. “If we’re moving on, let’s go. Before the rain begins again.”

Gabrielle didn’t object when Xena helped her into the saddle, and chattered more than she coughed at first. But she fell silent before they stopped for a midday meal. When it started raining again, it was as if she didn’t notice. Xena had to stop and put her hood over her head.

Xena grimly held onto Argo’s reins, and Girl, who often disappeared for hours at a time, only left briefly during a lull in the storm. She came back with a well-fed hen in her jaws, and Xena refused to think about how she’d come by it; the rain made hunting almost impossible, and Gabrielle needed to eat.

But although Xena roasted the hen and used its bones for broth, it was only she and Girl who ate it. Gabrielle was sleeping so deeply nothing Xena did could wake her. And the next morning, Xena turned off the road to Corinth, Gabrielle, unconscious, tied to Argo’s saddle.

The further they got from the Corinth road, the harder the rain fell. Water stood inches-deep on the ground, and carved channels across the road. Trees in the woods, their branches heavy with water, crashed and fell, even though there was very little wind. It was just the relentless, unceasing rain, falling down in such sheets Xena twice had to cup her hands over her mouth just to take a breath. She had never seen such rain, not even in Britannia.

Xena heard Girl give a short bark, and stopped abruptly. She didn’t know how long they’d been walking, but it was getting dark. They should have reached the inn by now, she thought. She hadn’t been there in years, but it was somewhere on this road, less than half a day from the turnoff for Corinth.

She checked on Gabrielle. Her head was lying across Argo’s neck, and her eyes were closed. Even in the rain her face was hot with fever.

Girl stood in the mud next to Argo, her eyes fixed on Xena. It almost seemed like both animals were waiting for something, she thought. She took in a deep breath, then another, and then picked up Argo’s reins. “Come on, Girl,” she said to the dog, and continued down the road.

Somehow after that, the rain seemed less intense, and the road more passable. The sense of doom Xena had been fighting lifted, and in less than an hour, she saw the smoke from the inn’s fireplaces rising up through the trees.

Xena left Argo at the stable next to the inn, and draped the pack with the regalia over her shoulder. The stable boy stood watching, slack-jawed, as Xena carefully untied Gabrielle from the saddle. The girl didn’t even open her eyes, just slid off Argo’s back like a dead man. Xena forced that thought out of her mind, and gathered Gabrielle against her.

“Take off my mare’s tack, rub her down, and feed her,” she said curtly to the boy. “Do it well, and it’ll mean a gold coin. Leave her wet, or cold, or hungry, and you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”

The boy gulped and agreed, but Xena didn’t even look at him as she walked out the stable door, Girl at her heels, Gabrielle in her arms.

_____________________

The first thing Gabrielle knew was rain. She felt it on her skin, icy cold. Then she slept.

The next thing Gabrielle knew was agony. Her chest was burning, and it felt like bands of steel were compressing it every time she tried to take a breath. She tried not to let her chest move, concentrating on how little motion she could make and still breathe at all. And then she slept again.

The next thing Gabrielle knew was Xena’s voice, crooning a lullaby. She thought that it must be raining again, but this time it was just a few drops, and they were hot, and salty.

______________________

Girl looked sadly at Xena from her place at Gabrielle’s feet. Xena lifted the cool cloth and wrung out the extra water, then laid it gently across Gabrielle’s forehead. She didn’t know why she bothered; almost before she took her hands away it was hot again.  
The innkeeper had remembered Xena from year’s before, and brought in a local healer, but Xena knew more than he did about this fever. He shook his head and muttered pessimistically. Xena almost threw him down the stairs.

One night, Xena sat in front of the fire, staring at the silk-wrapped bundles of the regalia. “It’s you,” she thought. “Everything the gods touch cuts my life to pieces.” She wondered what would happen if she threw the bundles on the fire, or gave them to the innkeeper’s wife, before remembering that touching the regalia could mean death to the uninitiated.

Including her, and Gabrielle.

As if Xena’s thoughts disturbed her, Gabrielle began to cough and gasp. Xena lifted her up, one arm around her waist, her hand cradling the girl’s damp neck. She pressed her mouth against Gabrielle’s hair, and fiercely willed her cough to subside, her gasps to slow into normal breath. “Hush, hush,” she whispered against Gabrielle’s hot skin. “Shhhhh….”

Gabrielle’s eyes fluttered open, but they didn’t change when she saw Xena, and then they closed again.  
_____________________________

Girl lifted her head. Xena was sleeping, exhausted, in the chair next to the bed, her left arm under Gabrielle’s neck.

The dog slipped off the bed and padded to the door. She tried to move the handle with her head, and then her mouth, but it wouldn’t budge. She walked to the window and rested her chin on the wide sill, but the shutters were closed tight against the storm. She sat near Xena’s feet and whined.

Xena fought her way to consciousness. Her dreams were full of images she recognized… the shore of Britannia, its forests … mixed with nightmarish memories of Ceasar, and the faces of the dead. She clawed up out of it, following the sound of Girl’s whining.

The dog had put her paws on Xena’s knees, and was nudging the side of her head. Xena blinked, and then got up and quietly slipped out and down the stairs of the inn, making sure the door was locked behind her.

She watched Girl flitting around the edge of the inn yard, doing her business in the shrubbery. Xena stood in the doorway, out of the rain, the stairway to the second floor plainly in her sight.

When Girl came back, clearly reluctant to leave Gabrielle longer than she had to, Xena bent down and rubbed her ears. “I know just how you feel, Girl.” Together they went up the stairs, and Xena unlocked the door.

In the next moment she had her sword in her hand, its point at the throat of the red-haired woman sitting in the chair next to Gabrielle.

Neither of them moved for a long minute, until Xena snorted and put her sword down. “That’s a good way to die, Maygan.”

The woman smiled, and held out her hand for Girl to sniff. The dog didn’t approach at first, regarding her from Xena’s side. Finally she touched her nose once to her palm, then jumped lightly, like a deer, onto the bed. She lay across Gabrielle’s legs, her chin resting on her crossed paws, her eyes open.

Xena slid her sword into its sheath, and walked to where the pack containing the regalia sat near the fireplace.

“It’s just as you left it.” Maygan’s voice was calm.

Xena nodded, but checked it just the same, and then turned to face the woman. “Don’t bother telling me how you got in here. I’m sure I wouldn’t believe it if you tried.”

Maygan smiled. “You haven’t changed, Xena.”

The warrior smiled. “Don’t be so sure.” Her eyes didn’t move to where Gabrielle lay sleeping, but Maygan’s smile dimmed, and she turned to the sick girl.

“She’s very ill.” She glanced at Xena. “Dangerously ill.”

“I know.” Xena took her last packet of herbs out of her saddlebag, and moved the pot of water off the fire. Before she could add the herbs to the water, Maygan’s hand was on her wrist.

“Don’t. I have something better.”

Xena gripped Maygan’s arm. “I’ve seen this fever before. I’ve seen it kill strong men. What do you know about it?” She shook the woman’s arm. “Tell me.”

Maygan shook her head slightly. “I have nothing like a sure remedy, Xena. I’ve lost more patients than I’ve saved to this thing. But I think that I can help her.” She met Xena’s eyes. “But if I do, I need you to help me in return.”

Xena shook her head. “One of your priestesses already tried to get the regalia. I’m not letting it out of my hands until I put it in the hands of the head priestess at the temple in Corinth. After that, if no one else can go, I’ll take it to Britannia myself. But I trust no one.” She locked her eyes on those of the other woman. “And I know you, Maygan. You won’t let an innocent woman die just because I’m honoring a promise I made.”

Maygan smiled. “Maybe you have changed. The old Xena would have had her knife at my throat, threatening me to save her friend, promises and old loyalties be damned.”

“That Xena still lives, Maygan.” Xena smiled, and it was cold. “Let’s hope I don’t have to prove that to you.”

Maygan took a bag from around her waist, and poured a large quantity of finely powdered herbs into the water. Xena watched her in silence, a silence Maygan finally broke as she waited for the tea to cool. “You said one of my priestesses tried to get the regalia. I saw… something… but I don’t know who it was. She was hidden from me, in some manner I didn’t recognize.” She looked directly at Xena. “And then she died. Who was it?”

“Ellyn.” Xena watched her face carefully as she said the name.

Maygan blanched. “I told the elders not to turn her out. I told them we’d regret that day. What did she do? What happened to her?”

Xena shook her head. “I don’t know. I met her, and I could tell something wasn’t right, but at first I thought it was because she was double-crossing the man I was fighting. But she wasn’t the Ellyn I knew in Britannia. This Ellyn would have driven a knife through my heart to get the regalia.”

Maygan tested the hot tea on her wrist, and then filled a mug with the steaming liquid. Without speaking, she let Xena smell and taste it. Then she returned to Gabrielle’s bedside and lifted the slight young woman until she was almost sitting up.

Xena stayed by the fireplace, watching as Maygan slowly let the tea drip into Gabrielle’s mouth. At first she didn’t swallow, and the liquid beaded on her lip. After a few moments, though, her tongue licked the droplets away, and Xena saw her throat move a little. Xena clenched her fists and stayed where she was until finally, the mug was empty.

Maygan let Gabrielle fall back against the pillows. “What is her name?”

“You didn’t have any trouble getting through the locked door. I’m surprised you can’t tell me her name.” Xena’s voice was heavy with irony.

Maygan smiled. “You never did give the gods the proper respect, Xena.”

Xena snorted. “Never ask a god to do what a good lock pick can accomplish.”

She laughed. “I was right. You haven’t changed.” She looked at Gabrielle again. “And I truly don’t know her name.”

“Gabrielle.” Xena turned her back on the red-haired woman, and walked restlessly to the other side of the room.

“And her protector?” She nodded at Girl.

Xena didn’t turn around. “We call her Girl.”

Maygan regarded the dog with curiosity. “Hello, Girl.”

The dog blinked once, then let her eyes finally close.

______________________________________

Xena didn’t deceive herself that Maygan had come just to help Gabrielle. She’d come for the regalia, though she made no move to so much as touch it – something that made Xena doubt her even more. But Xena had smelled and tasted nothing alarming in the herbs she was giving Gabrielle, and there was no question that her breathing was easier. But she still didn’t wake up.

Late on the third night, Maygan was sleeping in front of the fire, and Xena was lying next to Gabrielle, Girl stretched out in the valley between their legs. Gabrielle’s hair was filthy and matted, her skin clammy. Xena propped herself on her elbow and looked at her face, remembering it awake, alive, laughing, talking. Remembering it full of love. She felt her throat close and her eyes burn, and she let her head drop onto Gabrielle’s breast for just a second, wanting to feel her heart beating, feel her chest rise and fall.

She didn’t know how long she let her cheek rest against the girl’s heart, but suddenly she froze. Gabrielle’s hand was moving, and it feebly reached out, nestling in Xena’s hair.

“Gabrielle?” Xena’s voice broke.

The girl’s eyes opened, and for the first time since they’d arrived at the inn, Xena saw something like recognition in them before they closed again. Girl’s tail was thumping against the bed.

That night, Xena dreamt again of Britannia, but it was just of a bird flying over the shore in the sunlight.

__________________________________

Gabrielle didn’t speak at first. She watched Xena and the strange red-haired woman move around the room. She drank what they gave her to drink, and let her hand rest on Girl’s neck or head when she wasn’t obediently swallowing.

She’d tried once or twice to talk, but her throat was swollen and raw. She knew she stank of sweat and sickness, but Xena slept next to her at night, face buried in her neck, not seeming to care. And she smiled every time Gabrielle looked her way, as if she didn’t need Gabrielle to speak to understand what she was saying.

On the third morning, Gabrielle smiled softly at Xena and whispered, “Good morning.”

Xena touched her hair softly. “I’m assuming that was supposed to be some kind of greeting.”

Gabrielle licked her lips. “Hungry,” she tried again.

Xena laughed. “Welcome back.”

Maygan heard them, and came to the bed. “Hello, Gabrielle.”

Xena didn’t look away from Gabrielle’s face. “This is Maygan. She brought the herbs that healed you.”

Maygan made a dismissive gesture. “They helped her breathe more easily, that’s all. Are you strong enough to eat something, Gabrielle?”

The girl nodded, and Maygan went to the fire and filled a bowl with soup. Xena held the bowl while Gabrielle drank it down, then spooned the meat and grains into her mouth, her other arm firmly behind Gabrielle’s back.

The red-haired woman watched for a minute, and then gestured at the dog. “I think I’ll take Girl outside for a few minutes.” She glanced at the shuttered window, and smiled. “If it’s not raining, maybe we’ll take a nice, long walk.” She pulled her hood up over her hair, and let Girl out the door.

Gabrielle wrinkled her nose. “I stink.”

Xena laughed. “Yes, you do.” She set the bowl down on the table, and put her hand on Gabrielle’s cheek. “I’ve never smelled anything so wonderful in my life.”

Gabrielle’s laugh was almost silent, and she pressed her hand against her throat. “Don’t make me laugh.” She started to cough, and Xena helped her sit up a little more.

Gabrielle nodded towards the door. “Who…?”

Xena hesitated for a minute. “She’s an old friend, who I’m hoping is still a friend. She’s a priestess from the temple of Demeter in Corinth.”

Gabrielle thought about that. “Like Ellyn?”

Xena frowned. “I don’t know. There was a time I’d have said yes, but there was a time I trusted Ellyn, too.” She stared off over Gabrielle’s head, her eyes distant.

Gabrielle squeezed her hand. “How did she find us?”

Xena shrugged. “She says her goddess brought her here.”

“Don’t you believe her?”

Xena smiled, but it wasn’t happy. “I hope she’s lying, because I’ve come to think whenever the gods are involved, things get… complicated.” Then her smile lost its bitter edge. “But I don’t think that’s why Maygan left us alone. Do you?” She leaned down and brushed her lips lightly over Gabrielle’s.

The girl let Xena nuzzle into her throat, her hands tangled in her dark hair. “I wish I could take a long, hot bath.” Her voice was full of longing.

Xena smiled down at her, her eyes soft. “There’s no shortage of water, I know that. Let me see what the innkeeper can do.”

Gabrielle wriggled into the bed a little more happily than before, and then frowned. “Is it still raining?”

Xena nodded, and answered in a near-grunt. “Yes.”

Gabrielle looked at the shuttered window. “That’s not normal.”

“No,” Xena said. “I never thought it was.”

___________________________________

A few days later, Xena was once again leading Argo down the muddy road towards Corinth. Gabrielle was on the mare’s back, warmly wrapped in a cloak Maygan had brought from Britannia, one that she swore would keep off any amount of rain. The red-haired woman was trudging alongside Xena, easily keeping up with the taller woman’s stride.

Girl had disappeared into the woods alongside the road, but Xena frequently caught a glimpse of the reddish dog among the wet green trees. She was keeping a careful eye on Gabrielle, it seemed.

“When will we be there, Xena?” Gabrielle was looking rested, if still somewhat pale and thin.

“Ten days.” Xena’s voice was firm.

Maygan glanced at her, but didn’t say anything.

“But you said…”

Xena cut Gabrielle off. “Ten days, Gabrielle.”

She was quiet for a few minutes, then spoke again. “We’ve already missed the ship, haven’t we?”

“We missed the last one. There’ll be another.”

“Not for a month.”

Xena snorted. “More like fifteen days.” She glanced over her shoulder. “You were sick a long time.”

Gabrielle frowned and started to say something, but Maygan held up her hand. “What is that?”

But Xena already had her hand on her sword, and was facing the woods on her left. Three armed men came out of the trees, and stood looking at her.

No one moved for a long time, but finally the tallest of the men stepped forward and put his sword in its sheath. Xena didn’t shift even a muscle, and Gabrielle dropped her far hand down to touch her staff where it was tied to Argo’s saddle. Maygan was standing silently, a dagger Gabrielle hadn’t seen her reach for in her hand.

“Are you Xena?”

Her eyes narrowed. “That question is getting really old. Who wants to know?”

The soldier reached into his shirt, and Xena kept her eyes fixed on him while he drew out a scroll. She jerked her head, and he handed it to Gabrielle, who opened it slowly. “It’s a map.” She tilted her head to one side. “I can’t tell of where.”

Maygan kept an eye on the soldiers, and came and stood beside Argo. Gabrielle held the scroll so the other woman could see it. “It’s Brittania,” she said.

Xena nodded. “Who sent you?”

The tall man smiled at her. “Does it matter?”

Xena stared at him for a long time. “Only if you want us to do something other than use this map for kindling tonight.”

“My only mission was to give you that map. What you do with it is your business, Xena.”

She laughed. “Whoever sent you was an idiot for thinking I’d take anything from one of Ceasar’s men.”

The man looked at her for a minute, then pushed back the sleeve on his sword arm. A blue tattooed serpent twined its way up his wrist. “I’m not here for Ceasar.” He turned on his heel and vanished with his men into the woods.

Gabrielle frowned, her face puzzled. “Those were Roman soldiers, Xena. What did they…”

Xena shook her head, and turned back to the road. “I don’t know.” Gabrielle sensed she had an idea, but didn’t ask any more questions.

Maygan slipped the map inside her cloak.

Xena managed to find an inn every night until they got to Corinth, and by the time they stopped on a hill overlooking the port city, Gabrielle felt almost like her old self. She sometimes caught Xena looking at her with a shadow in her eyes, and she wondered what it meant. It always went away when she saw Gabrielle looking at her.

“I’ve never been to Corinth.” Gabrielle had come up next to Xena, Girl with her. She looked down at the town, its port full of ships in the water and men on the shore, then glanced at Maygan. “Where is your temple?”

The priestess pointed at a building halfway down the hillside, surrounded by a walled garden. “There.”

Gabrielle looked at Xena. “I’d like to walk down.”

Xena didn’t argue, just nodded. It was an easy path, and the rain was light.

When they came to gate in the temple wall, the rain stopped altogether, and as they passed inside, weak sunlight made the entire garden sparkle for a minute. Gabrielle stood there, entranced, then hurried to catch up with Xena and Maygan. Girl trotted ahead of her as she ran.

A small, dark-haired girl wearing the clothing of a novice appeared from what looked like the temple stable, and bowed to Maygan. She reached up silently and put her hand on Argo’s reins. Xena let her take them, but detached a few bags, including the one holding the regalia, and draped them over her shoulder and arms. Gabrielle had already taken her staff. She shook her head when the girl gestured at Girl. “She’s staying with me,” she said, smiling.

The temple door opened as the three women walked up the stairs, the dog next to them. Another dark-haired novice, this one a little older than the stable girl, beckoned them in. Xena didn’t hesitate or look around, and Gabrielle followed close behind her as they passed into the building.

Once inside, the priestess led them to their left, down a long hall lit by torches. They emerged in a large hall with several tables. Maygan led them to the far end of this room, and through a heavy curtain into a smaller chamber.

A tiny, wrinkled woman in a rough-woven deep blue dress smiled at them from a chair by the fire. “Xena. Forgive me if I don’t get up, but this rain has made my joints ache.”

Xena made a strange motion, almost as though she was thinking of bowing to the old woman. Gabrielle hung back, resisting the impulse herself. Only Girl seemed at ease, trotting confidently to the fire and sniffing at the old priestess’ hand.

Maygan, however, had dropped to her knees at her side. “Are you taking your herbs, Mother?” Her voice was a little awed, and a little scolding, both.

The old woman smiled briefly at Maygan, then looked back at Xena and Gabrielle, her hand stroking Girl’s head. “The young never realize that there comes a day when old age conquers even the most clever herbalist.”

Xena snorted. “It’ll be the only thing that’s ever conquered you, Betrys.”

Maygan started when Xena called the priestess by her given name, but Betrys just smiled. “Time will conquer us all, Xena. Even you.” Then her eyes rested on Gabrielle. “And even you, child.”

Gabrielle smiled at the old woman. “Time isn’t my enemy.”

The old priestess looked at her. “No,” she agreed. “Not time.” She looked back at Xena. “Enough about enemies and my old, aching joints. Maygan, take them to the guest hall, and we’ll speak of the regalia after they’ve eaten and rested.”

Xena didn’t say anything until they were in their room and had dropped their packs on a bench near the fire. There was a meal of roasted chicken, bread, wine, and fruit spread on the table. Unlike at the inn, the shutters stood open. While the weak sunlight had vanished behind the clouds again, no rain was falling in the garden, although there was a wet gray haze over the harbor.

Xena put some chicken and bread on a plate for Girl, and set it on the floor. The dog happily started eating.

Gabrielle stared out at the view. “Is this place under a spell, Xena?”

She shrugged. “Or the protection of their goddess.”

Gabrielle gave a snort. “Then you’d think she could have kept her regalia dry, and me from almost dying, trying to get it here.”

Xena gave a harsh laugh. “When it comes to the gods…”

“I know, Xena, I know: If the gods are involved, everything that can go wrong, will.” She looked at her. “Do you really think that? Do you believe the gods are just out to get us, or playing with us for their own amusement?”

Xena started unpacking one of the saddlebags. “I know some of them are. And so do you.” She didn’t say anything more for a minute. “I don’t know what Demeter wants, or doesn’t want, or if this is a game to her, or something big and sacred. All I know is we haven’t been dry in weeks, you nearly died, and if it doesn’t stop raining soon, I’m going to start growing mold.”

Just then Gabrielle’s stomach rumbled loudly, and Xena grinned. “And I also know you’re starving.”

Gabrielle laughed, and the two women sat down to eat.

No one came for them, so they stripped off their mud-splattered clothing and washed with the scented water they found in basins near the bed. Xena slipped into a clean shift, put her now-dry cloak on over it, and took Girl into the garden.

When they came back, Gabrielle was standing by the window, eyes still fixed on the distant view, absently trailing a wet cloth smelling faintly of lavender across her stomach.

Xena spread her cloak in front of the fire, then stood and watched Gabrielle for a minute. She followed the motion of the girl’s hand and the trail of water droplets tracing a path down her hip. She moved to Gabrielle’s side, and put her hand over hers.

Gabrielle turned around, startled, and dropped the cloth. She brought both her hands up to the sides of Xena’s face, and kissed her. Xena led her by the hand to the bed, and pulled her down into her arms.

Gabrielle lay next to Xena, and held herself up on her elbow. Her hair fell down over the other woman’s face and trailed across her shoulders, almost like a curtain with the light from the window shining through. Xena traced the line of Gabrielle’s jaw with one finger, and Gabrielle bent all the way down and kissed her again. “We haven’t been alone in so long,” she whispered.

Xena pulled her down, almost harshly, and wrapped her arms and legs around Gabrielle. Xena rolled over, pinning her down, and now Xena’s hair fell all around them, and her lips pressed against Gabrielle’s.

_______________________

Xena and Gabrielle woke up the next morning, tangled together. Girl was sleeping in front of the fire, the sun was shining in the open window, and someone was knocking at their door.

They hastily dressed, and followed the silent novice down to the main hall, Girl behind them. “Don’t any of these girls speak?” Gabrielle whispered to Xena.

Xena answered in a normal voice. “They take a vow of silence during certain periods of their training.”

Gabrielle frowned. “I don’t think I’d like that very much.”

Xena choked back a laugh just as they came into the hall. Betrys looked up at them, smiling. On the table in front of her was the map the Roman soldier had given Xena on the road.

The old woman gestured at two places next to her, with plates of bread and cheese in front of them, and mugs of hot tea. “Sit down, Xena, Gabrielle. I hope you had a restful sleep.”

Gabrielle smiled at her. “We did.” She fought back the feeling that the priestess knew exactly why her rest had been so sweet.

Xena swallowed her tea and nodded at the map. “Do you know what this is, Mother?”

She nodded. “Yes. Do you?”

Xena reached out a hand and turned the map so she could see it. She studied it for a long time, then frowned. “It’s Brittania, but I’m not sure… I’ve never been in this area, and yet it seems familiar.” She shook her head.

“It’s where the regalia needs to be taken.”

Xena nodded. “By me?”

“Do you want to take it?” She spoke very slowly.

Xena shrugged. “I promised Mellaina that I’d make sure the regalia went safely to Britannia, but I didn’t promise to take it myself.” She paused. “I’m in no hurry to return there.”

The woman nodded. “And yet your destiny will draw you there again.”

Xena shook her head. “Everyone’s always very ready to tell me what my destiny is. If I go, I go. If not, not. But it’s my choice.”

Betrys looked like she was going to smile, but she didn’t. She turned to Gabrielle. “And you? What do you feel when you think of Britannia?”

Gabrielle smiled. “Nothing. Should I?” She broke off a piece of cheese and slipped it to Girl, who was under the table.

The old woman looked at her, and sadness flickered across her face. Xena was gazing at the map and didn’t see it. “Perhaps. That, however, is your destiny. The question before us now is, who will carry the regalia to Britannia, and how can we protect it until it’s safely there?”

Gabrielle looked at her. “I thought anyone who touched it would die? Isn’t that enough protection?”

Xena looked at her sharply. “It didn’t stop Ellyn.”

Betrys looked pained. “Ellyn was an initiate, and could have touched it… not without suffering some harm, but she might not have recognized it at first.”

Xena shook her head. “I assumed it would just kill you, like touching Prometheus’ sword.”

The old woman nodded. “And you, it would.” She changed the subject. “But there are those who know its secrets, and those who believe they do. It holds power, and there are always those who find that an irresistible treasure.”

Xena’s eyes went back to the map. “So, what next?”

Gabrielle swallowed the last of the cheese, and pointed at Xena’s plate. “Are you going to eat that?”

Xena pushed her plate closer to Gabrielle. “Can Maygan touch the regalia?”

“She can,” said Betrys.

Xena nodded. “Then let her take it to Britannia.”

“And if someone tries to take it from her by force?”

Xena laughed. “You forget, I know Maygan. I’d put my money on her in a fight.”

Betrys stood up. “Come, walk with me.”

Gabrielle scrambled to her feet and followed them, with Girl trotting next to her. For an old woman who couldn’t so much as get out of her chair the day before, Betrys had no trouble matching Xena’s long stride as they went into the garden. They followed a path to the hillside, and stood looking down at the port. It was the same view as from their window.

“Do you see that ship out in the bay?”

Xena covered her eyes, and followed the line of Betrys’ pointing finger. “Yes.”

“It carries Roman soldiers, looking for the regalia.”

Gabrielle frowned. “How do they know where it is?”

Betrys looked at her. “They have their seers and priests, just as we do, Gabrielle.” She looked at the tall ship. “And their gods.”

Xena shook her head. “If you need someone to hold off the armies of Rome, it’ll take more than Gabrielle and me.”

“I was thinking you might draw them off, not hold them off.” She waited.

Gabrielle yelped. “You want us to draw off the Roman legions so Maygan can take the regalia to Britannia?”

“There’s a ship leaving for Gaul at dawn, where Maygan can then find a ship to Brittania. But if the Romans believe the regalia is still here, in Greece, they won’t go looking for it on the seas until it’s too late.”

Xena looked at Betrys admiringly. “It might work. Have you asked your goddess if it will?”

She shrugged. “She tells me what you just told me: It might.”

“How godlike of her.”

Betrys raised an eyebrow at the tone of Xena’s voice, but only asked, “Will you do it?”

Xena glanced at Gabrielle, then back at Betrys. “Gabrielle and I need to talk.”

“Of course. I’ll see you in the temple for the midday meal.” She walked down the path, and as she passed through the arbor at the bottom of the hill, the sun broke through the clouds again.

Xena rested her hands on Gabrielle’s shoulders. “What do you think?”

“At the risk of you accusing me of sounding godlike, I think it might work.” She grinned at Xena, who laughed.

“It’s not the great adventure we set out to have. There’s no long journey to a strange land, or a map to a hidden island, at the end of the Corinth road.”

Gabrielle rolled her eyes. “Are you saying our life isn’t exciting enough? Is that before or after we try to single-handedly evade the Roman legions with no army but a horse, a dog, and the two of us?”

Xena laughed. “All right, then. Let’s tell them.”

When they got back to the hall, Maygan had brought the regalia from the guest rooms, and laid each wrapped bundle on the table in front of her. She was talking in a low voice to Betrys, while three wide-eyed novices stood watching.

“Have you seen this before?” Maygan was unwrapping one of the packages, and shook the silk cloth off the cup Mellaina had used to see the vision telling her to send the regalia to Britannia. Xena nodded.

Maygan gestured to one of the novices, who poured water into the cup from a stone pitcher. Maygan drew one of the other girls forward, and brushed her fingers across her forehead, between her eyes. “Look in the cup and tell me what you see,” she said, her voice both commanding and kind.

The girl looked down at the water in the cup, and her eyes slid out of focus. “Soldiers,” she said after a long pause. “And green hills.”

Maygan nodded, and moved her hand over the surface of the water. “What now?”

Again, a long silence. “Mist on water.” The girl’s voice was toneless. “A boat.” More silence. “A hill.”

Gabrielle stood watching, biting her lip. “Will Maygan get to Britannia safely? Will the plan work?”

Maygan didn’t look at her, just frowned. “What else do you see? Do you see the regalia?”

The girl didn’t look up from the cup. “I see it.”

Maygan brought her hand down, and lifted the girl’s chin. “Thank you. You may go.” She touched the girl again between her eyes, and she blinked, then slumped forward, resting her hands on the table. The other two novices slipped their arms around her waist, and led her to the kitchen.

Xena was sitting at the table, eating an apple. “And we’re right where we’ve always been: It might work. Right?”

Maygan was cleaning and rewrapping the cup, so Betrys answered. “Yes. You’re right.”

Xena shook her head, stood up, and tossed the apple core into the fire that was burning on the hearth. “Gods. You can have them.”

She strode out of the room. Gabrielle looked at the old woman, then followed Xena out the door.

____________________________________

Xena stretched her hand down to Gabrielle. The girl grabbed it, and let Xena pull her up behind her in the saddle.

In the distance, the ship bound for Gaul was sailing out. A Roman soldier pointed up the hill at Argo, her saddlebags stuffed with silk-wrapped metal cups and bowls, and called out something to his comrades.

Xena laughed, and looked behind her at Gabrielle. “Ready for a run?”

Gabrielle smiled at her. “I’m ready.”

Xena patted Argo’s neck, and looked down at Girl. “Then let’s go.” She wheeled Argo around, and Gabrielle’s cloak whipped out behind her.

Gabrielle looked over her shoulder, watching Maygan’s ship vanishing into the grey clouds on the horizon, bound for Britannia.

“Xena?”

Xena was letting Argo set the pace, her reins loose in her hands. “Yes?”

“Do you think we’ll ever go to Brittania, after all?”

Xena glanced back at her, and grinned. The sun was shining, Girl was racing ahead of them, and Argo was flying like the wind. “Only the gods know, Gabrielle.”

Gabrielle wrapped her arms more tightly around Xena’s waist, and held on for the ride.


End file.
